Fish Hook Visitors on State Park Experience

Teen Noah Allen learns to maneuver a kayak while fishing in Lumber River State Park.

Rangers at Lumber River State Park are hooking ‘em, two or three at a time.

For bait, they’re using the bass and redbreast sunfish in the dark, tea-colored water of the national Wild and Scenic River. The whole experience of floating and fishing the Lumber River hooks park visitors on the natural resource and continued, deep-seated support of the state park.

“Awesome,” said Noah Allen, a teen of few words, after his day on the river. Noah and his father Jason, who moved to within a few miles of the Lumber River, had never spent much time on it or in it. They had floated the river with a ranger earlier in the week for just a couple hours, had returned for the guiding fishing trip program and already were making plans to attend other park programs – and thinking of buying a used canoe.

Rangers Ronald Anderson and Brantley Bowen decided a couple years ago to occasionally add a fishing element to the canoe and kayak trips they guide from several points along the winding river. Starting with borrowed rods and a few lures they bought themselves, they’ve probably introduced 75-100 people to fishing, Bowen said, mostly in groups of 3-4, although hosting an occasional group of youngsters will keep them busy for hours retrieving lures from the treetops and untangling line. Recently, a park advisory committee member donated some new rods, which has helped the cause.

The rangers are convinced that snagging a fish from the Lumber River gives visitors an intimate connection with the resource that few other experiences do. The biggest haul to date was 74 fish caught on a perfect June morning with a very small group, Bowen said. Most trips of 3-4 hours result in just a handful of smallish fish, but the visitors are hooked deeper than their prey. It’s a much more challenging and physical experience than a simple canoe float, with limbs, snags and swift current adding drama to every cast, and that leads visitors to total immersion in the task at hand. It’s a level of concentration that’s hard to achieve in a park program.

In slack water or the occasional stop on a sandbar, a ranger will slip in a few words about the protection of the natural resource, the park’s history and conservation in general. Spotting a cottonmouth water moccasin or unusual plant opens the subject.

North Carolina State Parks

North Carolina's state parks system is dedicated to conservation of natural resources, to outdoor recreation and environmental education. Managed by the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, it encompasses 41 state parks and state recreation areas, as well as 33 undeveloped conservation areas, ranging from mountains to piedmont to coast.